"One day out of this long life of Brahma is called Kalpa; and a Kalpa is that portion of time which intervenes between one conjunction of all the planets on the horizon of Lanka, at the first point of Aries, and a subsequent similar conjunction. A Kalpa embraces the reign of fourteen Manus, and their sandhis (intervals); each Manu lying between two sandhis. Every Manu's rule contains seventy-one Maha Yugas, - each Maha Yuga consists of four Yugas, viz., Krita, Treta, Dwapara, and Kali; and the length of each of these four Yugas is respectively as the numbers, 4, 3, 2 and 1.
The number of sidereal years embraced in the foregoing different periods are as follows:
Mortal years
360 days of mortals make a year
1
Krita Yuga contains
1,728,000
Treta Yuga contains
1,296,000
Dwapara Yuga contains
864,000
Kali Yuga contains
432,000
The total of the said four Yugas constitute a Maha Yuga
4,320,000
Seventy-one of such Maha Yugas form the period of the reign of one Manu
306,720,000
The reign of 14 Manus embraces the duration of 994 Maha Yugas, which is equal to
4,294,080,000
Add Sandhis, i.e., intervals between the reign of each Manu, which amount to 6 Maha Yugas, equal to
25,920,000
The total of these reigns and interregnums of 14 Manus, is 1,000 Maha Yugas, which constitute a Kalpa, i.e., one day of Brahma, equal to
4,320,000,000
As Brahma's night is of equal duration, one day and night of Brahma will contain
8,640,000,000
360 of such days and nights make one year of Brahma, equal to
3,110,400,000,000
100 of such years constitute the whole period of Brahma's age, ie., Maha Kalpa
311,040,000,000,000
That these figures are not fanciful, but are founded upon astronomical facts, has been demonstrated by Mr. Davis, in an essay in the Asiatic Researches; and this receives further corroboration from the geological investigations and calculations made by Dr. Hunt, formerly President of the Anthropological Society, and also in some respects from the researches made by Professor Huxley.
Great as the period of the Maha Kalpa seems to be, we are assured that thousands and thousands of millions of such Maha Kalpas have passed, and as many more are yet to come. (Vide Brahma-Vaivarta and Bhavishyre Puranas; and Linga Purana, ch. 171, verse 107, &c.) and this in plain language means that the Time past is infinite and the Time to come is equally infinite. The Universe is formed, dissolved, and reproduced, in an indeterminate succession (Bhagavad Gita, VIII, 19). - The Theosophist, Vol. VII, p. 11 15.
Kali yuga "Yuga" is an age or cycles. According to the Indian philosophy our evolution is divided into the four yugas or cycles. The Kali-yuga is the present age. It means the "Black Age," a period of 432,000 years.
Ruth writes:
Kali Yuga
(Kali is like the "condensed form" of matter or Mother within consciousness. )
Quote:
"Kali (Sanskrit) The black; name of the seventh tongue of Agni, the fire god, which was a black fiery flame. Blackness and darkness have always been associated with the pre-cosmic night in its mystical sense, the pralaya preceding the awakening manifestations of life in the present universe. Hence kali represents pre-cosmic wisdom. By that strange inversion of fact which nature manifests nearly everywhere, the highest is reflected in the lowest as in a mirror, so that in this sense the black fiery flame is the condensed fiery magnetic vitality of the lowest material worlds; therefore in this sense kali often stands for wickedness and evil.
Later, Kali or Kali-devi became a title of the wife of Siva, Parvati, because of her fierce and destructive nature."
"Yuga (Sanskrit) Age; an age of the world, of which there are four -- satya yuga, treta yuga, dvapara yuga, and kali yuga -- which proceed in succession during the manvantaric cycle. Each yuga is preceded by a period called in the Puranas, sandhya (twilight, transition period, dawn) and followed by another period of like duration often called sandhyansa (a portion of twilight). Each of these transition periods is one-tenth of its yuga. The group of four yugas is first computed by the divine years or years of the gods -- each such year being equal to 360 years of mortal men."
"All races have their own cycles, which fact causes a great difference. For instance, the Fourth Sub-Race of the Atlanteans was in its Kali-Yug, when destroyed, whereas the Fifth was in its Satya or Krita Yuga. The Aryan Race is now in its Kali Yuga, and will continue to be in it for 427,000 years longer, while various 'family Races,' called the Semitic, Hamitic, etc., are in their own special cycles. The forthcoming 6th Sub Race -- which may begin very soon -- will be in its Satya (golden) age while we reap the fruit of iniquity in our Kali Yuga" (SD 2:147n).
The four yugas refer to any root-race, although indeed a root-race from its individual beginning to its individual ending is about double the length of the great yuga as set forth in the above chart. The racial yugas, however, overlap because each new great race is born at about the middle period of the parent race, although the individual length of any one race is as above stated. Thus it is that by the overlapping of the races, a race and its succeeding race may for a long time be contemporaneous on the face of the globe.
As the four yugas are a reflection in human history of what takes place in the evolution of the earth itself, and also of the planetary chain, the same scheme of yugas applies on larger scales: there exist the four yugas in the time periods of the evolution of a planetary chain, as well as in the general time period of a globe manvantara. These cosmic yugas are very much longer than the racial yugas, but the same general scheme of 4, 3, 2 applies throughout.
"The sacredness of the cycle of 4320, with additional cyphers, lies in the fact that the figures which compose it, taken separately or joined in various combinations, are each and all symbolical of the greatest mysteries in Nature. Indeed, whether one takes the 4 separately, or the 3 by itself, or the two together making 7, or again the three added together and yielding 9, all these numbers have their application in the most sacred and occult things, and record the workings of Nature in her eternally periodical phenomena. They are never erring, perpetually recurring numbers, unveiling, to him who studies the secrets of Nature, a truly divine System, an intelligent plan in Cosmogony, which results in natural cosmic divisions of times, seasons, invisible influences, astronomical phenomena, with their action and reaction on terrestrial and even moral nature; on birth, death, and growth, on health and disease. All these natural events are based and depend upon cyclical processes in the Kosmos itself, producing periodic agencies which, acting from without, affect the Earth and all that lives and breathes on it, from one end to the other of any Manvantara. Causes and effects are esoteric, exoteric, and endexoteric, so to say" (SD 2:73-4). Yuga Purana {BCW 5:236}"
Here is another slant from Vijay Kumar - "Atma Jnani" on Kali Yuga:
11.. The great chohans (Lords), called the Lords of the Moon, of the airy bodies (a). "Bring forth men, (they were told), men of your nature. Give them (i.e., the Jivas or Monads) their forms within. She (Mother Earth or Nature) will build coverings without (external bodies). (For) males-females will they be. Lords of the flame, also."
Kali Yuga
The number of sidereal years embraced in the foregoing different periods are as follows:
Great as the period of the Maha Kalpa seems to be, we are assured that thousands and thousands of millions of such Maha Kalpas have passed, and as many more are yet to come. (Vide Brahma-Vaivarta and Bhavishyre Puranas; and Linga Purana, ch. 171, verse 107, &c.) and this in plain language means that the Time past is infinite and the Time to come is equally infinite. The Universe is formed, dissolved, and reproduced, in an indeterminate succession (Bhagavad Gita, VIII, 19). - The Theosophist, Vol. VII, p. 11 15.
Kali yuga "Yuga" is an age or cycles. According to the Indian philosophy our evolution is divided into the four yugas or cycles. The Kali-yuga is the present age. It means the "Black Age," a period of 432,000 years.
Ruth writes:
Kali Yuga
(Kali is like the "condensed form" of matter or Mother within consciousness. )
Quote:
"Kali (Sanskrit) The black; name of the seventh tongue of Agni, the fire god, which was a black fiery flame. Blackness and darkness have always been associated with the pre-cosmic night in its mystical sense, the pralaya preceding the awakening manifestations of life in the present universe. Hence kali represents pre-cosmic wisdom. By that strange inversion of fact which nature manifests nearly everywhere, the highest is reflected in the lowest as in a mirror, so that in this sense the black fiery flame is the condensed fiery magnetic vitality of the lowest material worlds; therefore in this sense kali often stands for wickedness and evil.
Later, Kali or Kali-devi became a title of the wife of Siva, Parvati, because of her fierce and destructive nature."
http://www.theosoci ety.org/pasadena /etgloss/ ka.htm
(Yuga is like a cycle.)
Quote:
"Yuga (Sanskrit) Age; an age of the world, of which there are four -- satya yuga, treta yuga, dvapara yuga, and kali yuga -- which proceed in succession during the manvantaric cycle. Each yuga is preceded by a period called in the Puranas, sandhya (twilight, transition period, dawn) and followed by another period of like duration often called sandhyansa (a portion of twilight). Each of these transition periods is one-tenth of its yuga. The group of four yugas is first computed by the divine years or years of the gods -- each such year being equal to 360 years of mortal men."
"All races have their own cycles, which fact causes a great difference. For instance, the Fourth Sub-Race of the Atlanteans was in its Kali-Yug, when destroyed, whereas the Fifth was in its Satya or Krita Yuga. The Aryan Race is now in its Kali Yuga, and will continue to be in it for 427,000 years longer, while various 'family Races,' called the Semitic, Hamitic, etc., are in their own special cycles. The forthcoming 6th Sub Race -- which may begin very soon -- will be in its Satya (golden) age while we reap the fruit of iniquity in our Kali Yuga" (SD 2:147n).
The four yugas refer to any root-race, although indeed a root-race from its individual beginning to its individual ending is about double the length of the great yuga as set forth in the above chart. The racial yugas, however, overlap because each new great race is born at about the middle period of the parent race, although the individual length of any one race is as above stated. Thus it is that by the overlapping of the races, a race and its succeeding race may for a long time be contemporaneous on the face of the globe.
As the four yugas are a reflection in human history of what takes place in the evolution of the earth itself, and also of the planetary chain, the same scheme of yugas applies on larger scales: there exist the four yugas in the time periods of the evolution of a planetary chain, as well as in the general time period of a globe manvantara. These cosmic yugas are very much longer than the racial yugas, but the same general scheme of 4, 3, 2 applies throughout.
"The sacredness of the cycle of 4320, with additional cyphers, lies in the fact that the figures which compose it, taken separately or joined in various combinations, are each and all symbolical of the greatest mysteries in Nature. Indeed, whether one takes the 4 separately, or the 3 by itself, or the two together making 7, or again the three added together and yielding 9, all these numbers have their application in the most sacred and occult things, and record the workings of Nature in her eternally periodical phenomena. They are never erring, perpetually recurring numbers, unveiling, to him who studies the secrets of Nature, a truly divine System, an intelligent plan in Cosmogony, which results in natural cosmic divisions of times, seasons, invisible influences, astronomical phenomena, with their action and reaction on terrestrial and even moral nature; on birth, death, and growth, on health and disease. All these natural events are based and depend upon cyclical processes in the Kosmos itself, producing periodic agencies which, acting from without, affect the Earth and all that lives and breathes on it, from one end to the other of any Manvantara. Causes and effects are esoteric, exoteric, and endexoteric, so to say" (SD 2:73-4).
Yuga Purana {BCW 5:236}"
Here is another slant from Vijay Kumar - "Atma Jnani" on Kali Yuga:
http://www.godreali zed.com/kaliyuga .html
11.. The great chohans (Lords), called the Lords of the Moon, of the airy bodies (a). "Bring forth men, (they were told), men of your nature. Give them (i.e., the Jivas or Monads) their forms within. She (Mother Earth or Nature) will build coverings without (external bodies). (For) males-females will they be. Lords of the flame, also."
http://www.theosoci ety.org/pasadena /sd/sd2-1- 04.htm